This week's flourish comes to us via Laurel Boraz, who recently came to the Glen Echo dance community from New England. It's a variant on our very first video, a ripcord twirl. As with a normal ripcord twirl, be sure to follow the natural direction of the arm and pull down before you twirl your partner under, as this will help prevent shoulder injuries. Also be aware that this variant can take up a little more space, so don't pull it out in crowded conditions.

Recently I tried to talk to someone about how to do a few dance flourishes, and quickly came to the conclusion that the best way to share them and to explain them was to show them. So I started a ContraSyncretist channel on YouTube and am hoping to post videos on a weekly(ish) basis showing various contra dance flourishes and how to do them. The first one is Steven Roth and me demonstrating a ripcord twirl. As noted on the ContraSyncretist YouTube channel, this whole video thing has a learning curve and is an evolving process, so please bear with us.

Please share your flourishes (and how to do them)! Upload them to YouTube and then send me the link in the Contact Me form and they might get featured on this blog. I'm more than happy to feature other people (and actually would prefer to do so)!

Happy Friday!

This project has concluded as of mid-2013 (with an epilogue posted mid-2016) but we hope to see you soon on a contra dance floor! Meanwhile, head over to our Facebook page for upcoming techno contra events and other items of interest.

Author

I dance with abandon. I play with glowsticks. I look for music that is conducive to one or both. I play behind cameras. I write about all of the above. I'm based in Glen Echo's contra dance community outside of Washington, D.C., but I'm happy to go dance afield when I can. Lather, rinse, repeat. Always repeat.